Would you feel comfortable removing a crucifix from your wall because a government official believed it was a graven image?

How about sending your daughter to school in a burka so that her beauty wouldn’t tempt the boys around her?

What if your town suspended liquor sales because it violated the predominant state religion?

Or if the local funeral parlor removed cremation from the menu of services because it offended their religious sensibilities?

Would you be okay with your son losing access to birth control while in college?

Why the Founding Fathers felt church and state should be separate

We have the right to make choices on how we live and worship thanks to the separation of church and state, rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The clause reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The Founding Fathers were clear about the dangers of allowing religion to become entangled with governance. Under British rule, the Anglican Church was state-sanctioned, and you could be fined if that wasn’t where you went to pray. That’s one of the reasons they felt so strongly about keeping the government out of religion. 

The danger of combining church and state

When church and state become entangled, we see people gain access to opportunity based on outward signs of faith. This isn’t true worship; it’s a form of coercion and intimidation. 

For example, a prayer circle is a common hallmark of sporting events. However, it can be seen as a violation of church and state if it mentions Jesus because that promotes one form of religion over another. Any children of Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, Indigenous or other faiths would be excluded from that in-circle. They would either have to go against their faith by joining in, or set themself apart, which opens them up to discrimination or retaliatory behavior. Any child who doesn’t join the coach’s prayer circle might not get equal treatment or playing time — not because of their ability and talents, but because of religious intolerance.

Another reason the Founding Fathers wanted a wall between church and state was to maintain peace. They were very familiar with world history. When one form of faith is backed by a government, war is often the result. Americans have been spared the religious-based violence that continues to plague Europe and the Middle East. That’s by our Founders’ wise design. 

Separation of church and state not only guarantees freedom of religious expression, it prevents our government from weaponizing religion. If the United States were to adopt an ‘official’ religion, it would open the door to the kind of persecution and violence we see happening all over the world. And that violence would not make us better or more moral people.

That’s why separation of church and state is important. And why courts have upheld a strict interpretation of the First Amendment for centuries. We shouldn’t celebrate recent ‘victories’ that insert religion into school. That’s a slippery slope. 

Some may celebrate erosion of the wall between church and state because it’s their belief system that is being elevated to power. But once the walls are removed, they cannot be built again. When other faiths take control, you may not enjoy how they restrict your former freedoms.

How to promote moral behavior without combining church and state

By all means, give your children a firm moral foundation. Instruct them in the tenets of your faith. Religious instruction belongs in the home, with the family, where it is personal and protected. Keep it sacred. 

But resist the temptation to knock down the wall that separates church from state. It protects more than you think.

This column originally appeared in the White County News.